Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Nature of Revelation

The Nature of Revelation

In the Name
of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful;

All praise
and thanks are due to Allah, May Allah blessings and peace be upon His
Messenger.

Allah sent
Adam, his wife and Satan down to this earth after they had failed their first
trial. Ever since that time, He, the Most High, has been sending them and their
progeny guidance and direction to explain their purpose in life and what is
required from them. Allah says:

"We said, 'Go down from it, all of you. And when
guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance -there will be no
fear concerning them, nor will they grieve." [Al-Baqarah, 2:38]

This guidance from Allah came in the form of revelation, or Wahyu and was given to the various Prophets.

The
Meaning of Revelation

Revelation
and inspiration are two English words which translate the meanings of the
Arabic term Wahyu. Ar-Raghib al-Asfahani said in his dictionary of
Qur'anic Terms that Wahyu means a quick hint
or informing that may take the form of speech, writing, a gesture or a mere
sound. Imam Ibn Hajar said it is a "subtle and
rapid informing." Lexically, the Qur'an has used the word Wahyu to denote a variety of things such as:

1.
Inspiration or revelation to the Prophets, the Qur'an says, "Indeed, We have revealed to you, (O Muhammad) as We
revealed to Noah and the Prophets after him." [An-Nisaa’, 4:163]

2.
Instructing and directing the Angels, "(Remember)
when your Lord inspired to the angels, I 'am with you, so strengthen those who
have believed." [Al-Anfal, 8:12]

3.
Communicating using a quick sign or gesture, "So
he (Prophet Zechariah) came out to his people from the prayer chamber and
signaled to them to exalt (Allah) in the morning and afternoon." [Maryam,
19:11].

4. Intuition
and instinctual insight or ilham that Allah
has given to someone, "And We inspired to the
mother of Moses, (saying): 'Suckle him, but when you fear for him, cast him
into the river and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to
you and will make him (one) of the Messengers." [Al-Qasas, 28:7]

5.
Instinctive animal feeling and sense, "And
your Lord inspired to the bee, Take for yourself mountains houses (i.e.,
hives), and among the trees and in that which they construct. Then eat from all
the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down (for you)."
[An-Nahl, 16:68-69].

6. Evil whispers from the Satan to humans, "And
indeed do the devils inspire their allies (among men) to dispute with
you." [Al-An’am, 6:121].
As a Qur'anic term, Wahyu means three following things:

First, the communication from Allah to
His Prophets, directly or through a medium, informing them about whatever
message He wants them to deliver to people. This type is indicated in
number one above, and is the most common, typically referred to when the
term Wahyu is used.

Second, an understanding or knowledge that one
may find in his heart and feel certain that it is from Allah.

Third, whatever Allah sends down to His
Prophets as a part of His Law or as a knowledge of the unseen, whether in
the form of a book or by other means.

How
does it happen?

Allah says, "And it is not for any human being that Allah should
speak to him except by revelation or behind a partition or that He sends a
messenger (i.e., an Angel) to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed,
He is Most High, All-Wise." [Ash-Shura, 42:51].

The second major method that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, uses to reveal
and inspire His Prophets is one that involves intermediaries.

With
an intermediary

This type,
also called 'Indirect Revelation', was
explained by Imam Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir where he indicated that this
indirect revelation is carried out, through the use of, the angel Gabriel as the intermediary. The same was told by
the Prophet s.a.w in the hadith of Aishah, "Sometimes
it (the Wahyu) comes to me like the ringing of a bell, and this is the most
severe form for me; then the ringing ceases and I would understand what (the
Angel) said. And occasionally, the Angel would appear before me in the form of
a man and speaks to me, and I grasp all that he says." [Al-Bukhari].

This hadith
states the two common forms the Angel uses to deliver the message:

A reverberating sounds (the voice of the
Angel) like that of a bell.

A direct speech of the Angel.

Gabriel
sometimes appeared in his true natural form in addition to appearing in the
form of a man, "And indeed he (Muhammad) saw
him (Gabriel) at a second descent (i.e., at another time)." [An-Najm,
53:13].

Another
reference to Gabriel appearing in the human form is related in the well-known
hadith of Umar Ibnul-Khattab in the two Sahih books of Al-Bukhari and Muslim in
which he said: "... a man appeared before the
Companions with exceedingly black hair, clean clothes, with no sign of
traveling seen on him." Later in the hadith, the Prophet s.a.w told Umar
that that man was "Gabriel, who came to teach you your religion."

Qur'anic
use of the term Wahyu

We have shown
that the word Wahyu has many lexical
meanings that are all related to sense of communication taking place between
Allah and whomever He chooses from His creation. It is interesting to note that
Qur'an used the word Wahyu and its lingual
derivatives about (78) seventy eight times - according to the Classified Index
for the Qur'anic Terms, by Fuad Abdul Baqi.
Out of this number, the Qur'an used such word to indicate revelation to
Prophets only (66) sixty six times, and they occur in (31) thirty one Surahs.

[Excerpted
from Al Jumuah Vol. 14 – Issue; published in Islam Web on 8 January 2003]

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